Archive for April, 2014

Everyone has been asking me what I feel about Donald Sterling. I have been silent, minus conversations with my wife, about the situation. One because I want everything to come out, Two I want to make a rationale thought that doesn’t come from anger and resentment. With all that said… I have no problem with what Donald Sterling said!

I know, Pro Black Jason, has no problem with what Sterling said? You read it right and you are probably thinking I must have fell and bumped my head, or I have been hanging out with Uncle Ruckus and realized I have reverse vitiligo. In all honesty, we are Americans and you can feel however and feel whatever you want about anybody. Even if he stepped up to a podium and said the exact same thing I wouldn’t care. He has that right and freedom. It did hurt a bit when Sterling felt like him giving the players money to buy food, money to buy houses, money to buy cars, and etc made it ok. It made hair on the back of my neck stand up, because of the Slaver Master mentality. Other than that, go on Donald Sterling and be a racist, its your right. My problem lies with all the surrounding parts of the incident.

Like I mentioned I have no problem with what Sterling said because of freedom of speech. Is the speech disgusting? YES! Is the speech repulsive? ABSOLUTELY! My issue is with the NBA and its owners. As I’m currently writing this (4-29-2014) we have only heard from 3 owners. THREE OWNERS! 2 of which are minorities (Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, and Vivek Ranadive owner of the Sacramento Kings), and the 3rd owner was Mark Cuban (who took a stand but really didn’t). If people really feel like what Sterling said has no place in the NBA why have no other owners come out and stood against Sterling? I’m not saying the other owners are racist, but I’m saying the other owners don’t want to open up “Pandora’s Box” and have owners judged on their morality. So condemning Sterling will forever put the other owners in a situation when they make or do immoral things they too will be subjected to the same punishment they pursued against Sterling. So basically the owners rather stand beside racism so they can stand behind a closed door and be as nasty as they want without fear of losing their ownership. (Sorry I have just read the Atlanta Hawks owner said if it was a vote they vote to remove Sterling). I do have a problem with the owners lack of a voice! I do have a problem with the heads of the NBA!

Again I have no problem with what Donald Sterling said, but there is repercussions to what you do and say, he will face those. The supposed Girlfriend who is recording the conversation, has known about Sterling’s views but yet she continued to “date” him and she is a woman of some color even if mixed. How can she continue to be around this gross man (not to mention he is old as the dinosaurs, and even with Viagra that whole situation is disgusting)? Is her self worth so low that money is greater than respect? Yes she, illegally, exposed him, but she still subjected herself to this racist just to be around money. I do have a problem with her integrity!

Donald Sterling has a history of being a bigot and racist so the words that are coming out of his mouth, are surprising to hear, but he has a history. So if a zebra has stripes then why should I expect it to change. So I have no problem with his words, but I have problem with every minority player in the NBA. As a united front the NBA players should have done a work stoppage. NOBODY should have played a single game until Sterling was removed or disciplined. I know that is extreme, but if your ownership wont step up and act swiftly force their hands. Nobody plays a game, imagine all the money the NBA would lose (or we would have the Washington Generals out there if some of the non minority players decided to play… jk bad racial joke sorry). I get the protest, with black socks, turning the warm ups inside out, and the athletes running to twitter to speak, but if this was the 60’s or 70’s we would not be watching anything. The players would have shown an united front, took a stand, and forced change. I wrote a while back how I felt that athletes have chosen to not be Activist and it sucks. This would be a chance to show everyone in the world that racism will not be tolerated. This is bigger than sports. I have a problem with the lack of over the top protest and action by the players!

I commend and applaud all the companies that are pulling advertising and sponsorship from the Clippers. I don’t have a problem with that!

Only a night of Hero rape could produce a seed like this, and a movie like this too.

I honestly felt like there should have been more to this movie, but there was not. I was hugely disappointed, DC Animation usually does the best job with their animated Universe. Now as a Batman hater (see my last article) it still infuriated me with how they portrayed the Dark Knight.

I love Ra’s al Ghul, he is by far my favorite Batman villain (sorry Crown Prince of Crime). I just love his mythos and his name means “Demon’s Head” that can’t get any cooler. Al Ghul gets a few minutes of screen time here and is awesome all the way through. You can get the vibe very quickly that he enjoys being a grandfather, and I wish we could get a prequel of Al Ghul and Talia training young Damian (you hear that DC make up for this turd). How they handle Slade Wilson/DeathStroke is awesome for first half of the movie, but by the end not so much. I’m glad we get Nightwing/Dick Grayson (Dick has always been my favorite… Hold on… You know what I mean) playing a role in this movie, in the comics it was Tim Drake’s Red Robin that was the “other son”. I think it fits the components of the movie better with Nightwing instead of Drake. Especially since most would agree Grayson has always been the closet to what a real son would have been like for Bruce Wayne. The ending credits has a great sequence that shows a fight that we didn’t see during the movie, that we all wanted to see, so that was a nice little twist. The voice work in this movie is great. I’m getting used to Jason O’Mara as Bruce Wayne/Batman (I know the adolescent/preteen in me just kicked adult me in the nuts for ever thinking there could be another Batman voice besides Kevin Conroy), but all the voice work does a great job. The animation looks marvelous, as well as the fight scenes are well done.

Now to my list of the unfortunate. Ra’s Al Ghul is one of the biggest villains in the world, but in this movie his weaponry is stuck in the past. I get it, League of Assassins, but no guns on a complex and no defenses with modern technology? Come on man! I get that Damian is a protege and anybody trained since birth would be one bad ass kid (Hit-Girl anyone?), but Damian battled skilled high level adult fighters and sometimes barely broke a sweat. Come on man! One of my great loves of Ra’s Al Ghul as a villain is how he refers to Batman as “Detective”. Yet in this movie Batman is a FUCKING IDIOT! From his Killer Croc fight (great to see him in a movie), to his lack of ability to figure things out before his preteen son does. Damian is always 2 steps ahead of the Bat. World’s Greatest Detective” my ass, he must have removed the title for this movie. Nightwing figures things out faster than Batman, so maybe all of his “son’s” are surpassing him. The plot was pathetic, the movie tries to get by on how cool the concept of Batman having a “killer” son. Deathstroke wants to be leader of the League of Assassins, but he did everything to be the leader by destroying the League of Assassins, even down to eliminating all the leaders, and the one he didn’t eliminate he could have, but chose not to because he wanted to lure Damian in to settle a grudge? Huh? Damian would have been lured in just for revenges sake. Oh yea we get a subplot of creating ninja mutant man bats (this is ripped from the comics), now this subplot was just set up to give Batman more things to fight. Lets not forget Rape is spoke about in enjoyable terms, the Lazarus Pit not making a user insane, Batman having an “oh well (shoulder shrug)” feeling about everything (having a hidden son, League of Assassins being rebuilt after it was destroyed, Ra’s Al Ghul predicament). Then you have Damian who is annoying, (like Conner from Angel annoying), but I can get over that if they didn’t make him have a change of heart for no reason other than him saying it. Bruce and Damian never bonded, or had a profound moment that would justify a reason for Damian to change the ways he learned since he was born. The list could go on, but I have written to much.

Again I just think this movie was made to say LOOK EVERYONE BATMAN HAS A SON! And he is nothing like him! And who doesn’t like kid violence? This movie is for me was like the scheme Talia used on Batman. Use a hot/cold relationship to lure you in (Batman and I), get drugged where it makes/hopes you forget what made your relationship what it was (All the reason that make me hate Batman is what makes him awesome, except this movie hopes I forget that)), and then from that comes a product that is bad (this movie). Son Of Batman will just drug you and leave you with an issue to take care of… It sucking. I Pay For It (with my innocence) So You Don’t Have To!

I’m not the hugest Batman fan, when I was younger I did enjoy him more until I realized a lot of things about Batman I didn’t like. here is my list and goes a little something like this:

1. He is a lunatic, only person I think is crazier than Batman is Rorschach from “Watchmen”. You don’t believe Batman is crazy? Please look at the facts:

-He dresses up as a BAT as a grown ass man!

-He trains kids to fight crime even after some have died, he vows to never do it again and then up pops another kid sidekick (or teen sidekick)

-In his fight against crime he refuses to use guns because his parents were killed by guns, yet everyone uses guns on him. I would say that is dumb but we all know Batman is smart; see #2. Hell at least use rubber bullets.

-When a villain is not afraid of an all powerful alien, but shudders in their boots because a man in a bat costume glares at them, that is insane. In the words of the late James Brown, I don’t know Karate, but I know KRRAAZZYYY! Now imagine a guy that knows both, beware Chuck Norris.

-He is a billionaire that rather spend time with a kid, and old man, in a dark, dank cave instead of being an awesome jet setting billionaire that has tons of sex with models, buying the night spots, and just going crazy with the family inheritance.

-Not to mention the women to really catch his eye are a Princess of an Assassins Guild, a cat burglar (granted the cat suit would do it for me too, especially if you throw Halle Berry, or Michelle Pfeiffer in it), Renaissance fighter, a spy for the Black Hand, a crazy plant lady who has tried to poison him, his former bodyguard, and an Amazon Warrior (Kudos if anyone can name all of the women I’m referring to, and then you will realize that you are as geeky and pathetic as I… I call that a soul mate). You date crazy, because you are crazy!

So yes Batman is Bat-Shit Cray (I know saying cray is very uncool now, its like when I first heard my mom say swag. WORD OFFICIALLY DEAD!) Crazy.

2. I don’t mind insane characters, hell I like Rorschach, even the insane Deadpool, and Punisher. Yet they make Batman unbeatable, which is my main problem with Batman. Don’t give me the super intelligence angle either, you can be the smartest man in the world or even in the universe but one solid punch from a Man of Steel should shatter a skull. Now lately they have made Batman more vulnerable and don’t have him going toe to toe with the likes of Darkseid, but there was a point when Batman was the underdog that could… no matter how unrealistic the odds.

3. Batman is so FUCKING COOL!!! And I hate him for it. I’m a Supes fan through and through and the Ultimate Boy Scout can’t hold a candle to the awesomeness of Batman. The hiding in the shadows, the overlooking the city like a crime fighting Gargoyle. Just nothing compares to The Cool of The Batman (that would be a great album name for an Alternative Hip Hop Artist, Childish Gambino I’m looking at you).

Enjoy this short by the man who made my image of Batman so cool Bruce Timm (and for a lot of us he shaped our love for the DC Animated Universe, and I wish Timm and Dini would get back in to help with the movies):

Here is a trailer for the upcoming “Son of Batman”, and we know the DC Animated Universe hits Home Runs! This looks amazing!

And lastly just a great geekgasm, this definitely has Frank Miller Batman era written all over it. Lord why can’t we get this in real life?

Happy 75th Anniversary Batman and here is to another 75 years of being crazy, unstoppable, and cool!

Seems like when you make a horror movie and I can’t say the name, know what the name means (Insidious), or just seems odd, it equals Good Freaking Horror Movie.

Now I walked into this movie with very little knowledge of it. The trailer felt very Ring ish to me (I did enjoy the first Ring and Ringu) so I was expected more of the same. What I got was a very rooted Psychological thriller mixed in with a ghost story, and a tension building good time. I’m not hailing this as an all-time great, but it is refreshing and fun.

The story does a great job of zipping from past to present, and in doing so you as a viewer start to question what is present and what was the past. The movie plays with the idea of viewing the same event differently through two perspectives, and how the cloud of time can effect memory of events. The movie goes a long way in setting you up to the point where you are questioning what is real and fake. I will note that there is a lot of child acting in this movie and that usually downgrades everything for me but the performances here are stellar (Annalise Basso and Garrett Ryan), you can sense the fear and dread in these young actors. While I’m on acting; Karen Gillan is amazing in this, I know her more from Dr. Who, but this kind of performance can be the beginning of a star studded career similar to Jennifer Lawrence (I know Winter Bone was awesome but even Lawrence did the terrible “House at the End of the Street”). Gillan really shows off this one. Gillan helps keep you invested in this sister and brother team. Now again I was expecting nothing so my surprise does elevate this movie in my eyes. Female Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) is also good, you can really feel how the mirror starts to slowly destroy her whole life until WHAM everything crumbles.

It was very little that I didn’t like. Some things were the pacing, now I love a slow burn as much as the next, but sometimes I felt it dragged an inch. There were not a lot of jump scares, which usually I’m against but here a few more would have helped keep the tension building. Now like all horror movies there are moments that make you go “Why didn’t they just do…” I usually suspend that comment for the sake of the film, but there was a moment in the movie where the main character did something smart and it didn’t work, but she never tried it again. Basically they get help from a neighbor, but it failed, and they never thought to try again. You know get help from a teacher, or other neighbors? Show someone your mother. I feel like that was the writers way of saying “Hey look these kids aren’t dumb, see they tried and it failed… now back to your hell house”.

Lastly, I really enjoyed this film, and I implore everyone to go out and see it. I am tired of good horror (Cabin in the Woods) getting no press (Drag Me To Hell), sales (The Descent), and making Hollywood go back to old reliable (remakes, reboots, sequels, and pure garbage). I mean how many more Saw, Paranormal Activity, and now Insidious can we keep getting? Oculus is like going on a blind date and all your friends tell you she has a nice personality, so your expecting average to dog, and you end up with Karen Gillan. Good Fucking Deal! I Pay For It So You Don’t Have To, but Pay for this so Hollywood doesn’t have to shove the garbage down our viewing throats.

With me just watching Captain America 2: Winter Soldier I got to thinking, what awesome things that could and should be in Avengers 2: Age of Ultron to give movie goers everywhere a geekgasm or geekoner and I’m not talking about the one that Black Widow gives us every time she is on screen.

Now this list is going to be of stuff that can actually happen, not a “I wish” scenarios ala SpiderMan, X-Men, or Fantastic Four showing up. Sorry geeknation they are owned by different companies and they wont permit a crossover situation hell Joss Whedon and Co. can’t even use the word Mutant, because it is owned by Fox for X-Men. With that being said lets get into it.

1. Lets get an actual death in this one. Yea we can recon it later, but no Coulson shenanigans. Kill someone and keep them dead. If I had to chose it would be either Stark (because Robert Downey Jr. is talking about not reprising the role.) or Captain America we can have the Winter Soldier take over his role ala in the comics.

2. Acknowledge and talk about other heroes in the Marvel Universe, we got a Stephen Strange shout out recently, but I would love to hear about Pym particles, Wakanda, Vibranium (which is used to make Capt Shield and was the secret element in Iron Man 2).

3. Going along with that, if it is a huge battle that ensues can we please get other heroes making cameos to fight. Can we see a Power Pack team battling, Heroes for Hire (Luke Cage and Iron Fist), Cloak and Dagger, and if I’m right they should have just got Blade back. It doesn’t have to be long scenes maybe just see people with identifiable uniforms fighting off hordes of Ultron bots.

4. Please have Ultron thrash the Hulk! It is so hard for the Hulk to have a formidable foe because of his resistance to any and everything. with that being said:

5. Can we see different versions of the Hulk, maybe during the time Starks and Banner spend together at the end of Avengers 1 they try to find a way to make the Hulk not a total beast, but retain some of Banners intellect enter the Gray Hulk. This could help throw Ultron off who knows the Avengers and all their strengths and weaknesses. This would also get us a talking Hulk, which would be cool. It would add to our excitement to see big Green return to help thrash shit!

6. The major thing I would love to see in the movie that would make my head explode would be Captain America picking up Thor’s Hammer, Mjolnir, and battling Ultron. Imagine Mjolnir in one hand and the Shield in the other. In the books Capt. was deemed worth to use and wield Mjolnir. Make a way for Thor to get disarmed and have Cap pick it up and go to work parkour style on Ultron. Like I mentioned before this would switch up what Ultron is used to.

I also have some honorable mentions that would be cool, but I’m sure couldn’t fit into the movie.

-Find a way to take the Avengers team to another of the 9 realms. I would really like to see Hel, maybe they go there looking for Loki and surprise surprise he is not there.

– Suggest a possible House of M situation. This is where the Scarlet Witch went insane and recreated the world where Magneto and his family ruled. Now I know they couldn’t use Magneto, but maybe they make it so Hydra won the war, once you see Capt 2 you will know why and how this could be possible.

– Have a way for Hulk to get out of control and they are forced to send him to another planet because he is to much of a threat ala Planet Hulk and make that the next Hulk Movie. Gladiator style Hulk movie, and have him return in time for Avengers 3 to fight Thanos. You could do this again with a crazy Scarlet Witch hexing the odds of a portal opening and sending him to another planet.

So these are the things that I think can take Avengers 2 to another level and be the best comic movie ever. In Joss Whedon we trust!

Marvel takes another crack at the Animated portion of their franchise as well as continuing the Anime style in this uneven Black Widow and Punisher.

The trailer gives you the style this is in, it is in the same wheelhouse as the X-Men (pretty good), Iron Man (really good), Blade (decent), and Wolverine (gawd awful) anime series. This pits S.H.I.E.L.D. in cooperation with The Punisher. I have always had a strange relationship with/about the Punisher. I feel like he is a broke, gun toting, more insane version of Batman (yes Batman is insane, HE DRESSES UP AS A BAT!!! That’s called crazy, or that superpowered villains are afraid of the human on the Justice League, that is because you can’t beat crazy), in the Punisher’s world rarely is prison the answer for your crimes and I love that about him, but I also hate that Frank Castle is so tough to work with, just realizing that teamwork makes the Dream work would benefit Castle in his vendetta. Hell even single focused Cable teamed up with unstable Deadpool to accomplish goals. With all that being said I enjoy the Punisher’s ability to tangle with the more powerful enemies (or sometimes heroes) in the Marvel Universe and hold his own.

On the screen Frank Castle has seen little success, from Ivan Drago, Thomas Jane, and Ray Stevenson playing him (I actually liked the Ray Stevenson Punisher movie), animation seems to be the perfect format to really understand and get what the Punisher is all about. Here he can be as bloody and brutal as he wants to be and I loved every moment of it. The interaction between Fury and Castle is classic, its like two juggernauts not backing down from each other, Fury knowing he has the while might of S.H.I.E.L.D. at his will, and Castle knowing that he has… CRAZY, the unstoppable force. In all seriousness the movie hints at some past issues that Castle and Fury have yet to resolve. The Black Widow is the Black Widow, they tie in a love interest to the plot of the movie to make her more interesting. The only real interesting thing about this whole movie are the fights. You see the acrobatic deadly spy/assassin fighting style of widow teamed with the brute aggressive style of Punisher and the contrast makes for some entertaining fights and team ups.

Now don’t get me wrong I enjoyed this movie, but it had a lot of bad about it that I ignored in favor of just pure entertainment. Like the whole plot is just stupid. The dialogue is awful, and the attempt to make the characters relate able is terrible and not necessary. To boot they just throw in the Avengers at the end just because it is convenient. Like literally out of nowhere the team shows up to fight the big battle at the end. I would have preferred they kept the adventure small time ala the S.H.I.E.L.D. show so it solely focused on Widow and Punisher, but I guess you have to sell the movie somehow right?

This is a fun movie that is short and sweet too, so enjoy it and don’t take it to seriously. I don’t know how much of the flaws can be chalked up to the attempt of an Asian market crossover or just lazy scripting. Regardless if your a fan of either Widow (and what man isn’t) or Castle you will get your fun with them. This movie is like having a friend that you like to hang out with but they always have to bring their annoying little brother. Basically you have to take the good with the bad and the good barely out weighs the bad. I Pay For It So You Don’t Have To (this movie is on YouTube so you really don’t have to pay).

So I will start here…. Yes read the caption… So naturally you know this review will be unbiased and honest, a “No-Spin Zone” if you want to call it. Trailer time:

So yes I’m an unapologetic Captain America fan and that picture (thank you Rico for getting it for me) rest in my bedroom, so I wake up to Cap every morning, oh yeah and my wife (and for the record she was the one that hung it there, she’s an Angel, right!). So I was extremely excited for this film. The first Captain America was a necessary evil because Cap is a complex character and the set up in the first is needed to make the future adventures relate able and exciting. So for most the first movie was a bit slow and prodding, yet again a necessary evil for an exciting Avengers and Captain America 2. Result… BEST FUCKING MARVEL MOVIE YET!

Besides my bias, honestly this movie is awesome. It is a political/spy thriller, comic book, and action movie rolled into one. Mix in the message of finding oneself. Now I know that sounds like a lot, but somehow it all works. This movie gives every character their time to shine, which I feel makes the movie special. What do I mean by that? What we enjoyed about the Avengers is how the characters played off of each other and when the chips were down worked together to save the day. Here you have Captain America, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Falcon, Maria Hill, and the Winter Soldier. Each character gets their moment with a ton of laughs (ala the Avengers) to go around. The character interaction makes you feel like after the incident in New York these characters had missions since then that has helped them bond for better or worse. Now I know you’re probably thinking “Why does Jason love Captain America so much”, granted no one is really asking but I would like to explain. It was one of the first comics I read and why I read it? Because Falcon was the first Black hero I had ever seen. From that I grew to love Steve Rogers, he was a color blind hero that only cared about Truth, Justice, and the American way! And he had a Brotha by his side! How awesome is that? To 8 year old me that was amazing! Also in my family I considered myself the runt of the group (now years later I’m the biggest, thus “BIG” J), so I felt like Rogers, never good enough, fast enough, strong enough, but always had enough heart. I yearned for the day genetics would give me the “Super Soldier Serum”, and it happened in the 11th grade.

This movie is a Marvel Universe game changer. I wont spoil anything but after this movie the Universe will never be the same. Up is Down and Down is Up. In the first Captain America people complained of not enough action or shield play, well Capt. slings that damn shield everywhere especially in S.H.I.E.L.D. The fight scenes are great, minus a bit of shaky cam issues, but they use the Capt. parkour fighting style to the extreme. It was good to see Capt. fight enemies that are not “super powered” just so we can see how powerful Capt. really is compared to the average person. We get to see how the changing of the world is starting to wear on the honest nature of Capt. and if the spy world is a world he can flourish in. The Black Widow, who I contend is the real hero of the Avengers movie (shout out to Joss Whedon loving the strong female character, and I just might write an article about Widow being the real hero), gets to do her usual butt kicking, while some of Capt.’s honesty starts to give her moral dilemmas to think about.

The WINTER SOLDIER! what can I say? How about move over Loki, Winter Soldier is the deadliest villain we have seen in the Marvel movies. We love Loki not because of his brute force of bad assness, we love Loki because he is amusing and just plan interesting. The Winter Soldier is a pure deadly bad ass, not much dialogue, but boy is he memorable just a total wrecking machine. Finally in this movie we get to see why Fury is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., in the movie Fury has a moment that reminds me of Kakashi Sensei (where are my Naruto fans at? None? Ok fine). I want to give a nod to whoever did the casting, because getting Robert Redford to be in this movie adds that extra weight that only an acting legend can bring.

The only issue I had with the movie was minor, and it was based on my bias. No REDWING, I know having Falcon have the power of communicating with birds would be dumb in this movie. I at least wanted to see a Redwing shout out or throw away moment, you know have Sam feeding a Falcon in his house or something. Also I wish I would have got a mention of his “Snap” Wilson persona. We could have also gotten more dialogue from Winter Soldier, I know he is a killing machine, but give us something in the way of a good line or two from him. So those are my picks of nits.

So I again stand by my statement of Best Marvel yet. Avengers might have had more action, but the plot here is so deep that it will change the Universe while expanding it. I’m really interested to see how this changes the S.H.I.E.L.D. tv show. This movie is like having a really great Appetizer at a 5 star restaurant that puts pressure on the rest of the dinner. Now you hope the soup and salad is good (Guardians of the Galaxy), and the main course (Avengers 2) can live up to this amazing first course. Pay for this Movie Because I Did!